Joe McDonnell

Joe McDonnell (14 September 1951-8 July 1981) was a Provisional IRA volunteer who died during the 1981 Irish hunger strike.

Biography
Joe McDonnell was born in Belfast, County Antrim, Northern Ireland on 14 September 1951, and he grew up in a mostly-Protestant housing estate that was the site of violence during The Troubles. McDonnell was wrongly imprisoned on the prison ship Maidstone with Gerry Adams and many others, and he joined the Provisional IRA after leaving prison. In 1976, he was arrested for preparing the firebombing of the Balmoral Furnishing Company in Dunmurry, and he was sentenced to 14 years in prison for owning a handgun. McDonnell took part in the 1981 Irish hunger strike to protest wearing prisoner clothes, taking part in prison work, for the right to receive a letter or a package a week, the right to be freely associated with other prisoners, the right to receive visitors, and the right of the IRA to organize their own educational and recreational facilities. On 8 July 1981, he died after 61 days without food, two months and three days after Bobby Sands died.